Some Famous Works of Art
The first production by Nikolais, after the creation of the Henry Street Playhouse, was called KALEIDOSCOPE and premiered at the American Dance Festival. It aired in the spring of 1956 and showcased his company of seven dancers, intensively trained by him, for the past 7 years. The next production to follow PRISM, BEWITCHED, AND CANTOS was an improvisational performance by the dancers that utilized mirrors and the specific use of score and lighting. The act was performed on four separate occasions and was different each time. TOTEM, an act centered on religion and fetish with an element of barbarism, was performed at the Fifth Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy. The act received serious criticism. Following this, Nikolais went the complete opposite direction for his next performance, IMAGO. This act was meticulous and orderly; the performers were placed in similar make-up and headdress to accentuate unity. A much larger production, SANCTUM, showcased 27 performers, compared to the standard 10-15 Nikolais commonly used. This act dealt with opposites: natural vs. man-made, reality vs. imagination, primitive vs. sophisticated. The performance sold-out for 6 straight weeks in New York.
Read more about this topic: Alwin Nikolais
Famous quotes containing the words works of art, famous, works and/or art:
“Most works of art are effectively treated as commodities and most artists, even when they justly claim quite other intentions, are effectively treated as a category of independent craftsmen or skilled workers producing a certain kind of marginal commodity.”
—Raymond Williams (1921–1988)
“Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks;
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.”
—Anonymous. Late 19th century ballad.
The quatrain refers to the famous case of Lizzie Borden, tried for the murder of her father and stepmother on Aug. 4, 1892, in Fall River, Massachusetts. Though she was found innocent, there were many who contested the verdict, occasioning a prodigious output of articles and books, including, most recently, Frank Spiering’s Lizzie (1985)
“The man who builds a factory builds a temple, that the man who works there worships there, and to each is due, not scorn and blame, but reverence and praise.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“If I were of the trade, I should naturalize art as much as they “artialize” nature.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)